Back in the studio

I drove back from Ohio on Sunday, arriving home in the evening. It was a long drive. I had attempted to set up a couple of appointments while I was in Ohio. None of them worked out, partially due to the winter weather. I felt restless. I like it when my days are full. On Friday morning, I left Alliance and drove to Youngstown and visited the Butler Institute. It was decked out for the holidays. It is a wonderful museum of American art. If you are ever in that area, you must go there. I went back to Akron. Denis Conley hosts a get together at the gallery every Friday afternoon and into the evening. We went to the Diamond Grille again. Instead of going into the dining room, Denis opened a side door that lead into the kitchen. The kitchen staff knows him. Denis sang an excerpt from an Italian opera aria. The staff loved it and applauded enthusiastically as did I.

On Saturday, I sat in my van in front of Denis' house and drew on an etching plate. I frequently travel with a copper plate to work on. I don't like it when my time is empty. I did a portrait of his house and neighborhood (see photograph). There were only a few hours for me to work so I had to work quickly. Looking at the plate, I could see that my lines were alive with energy. I try to draw this way. Will they retain this character when I return to my studio and place the copper plate in the acid bath? Working quickly does not always mean working well. My concentration was pretty complete, and even if it is not a masterpiece, the act of creating can be as important as seeing a result. When I work, I can sense that I am not breathing. I don't pass out so I guess it is okay. As I worked from my subject, I think about how I will proceed after etching the lines. Building up layers of value using soft ground seems to be a good solution. All of this will need to be done back in Wisconsin, however. I will etch the lines deeply, layer softground values over the lines and then use sandpaper to soften those values, hopefully creating subtle gradations in my shading. The darkest areas will be done with drypoint...this would include the darkest shadows as well as some accents.

I went to The Nervous Dog coffee shop and did some correspondence...all of it hand written. I don't have a laptop, and I value writing to people. Email is fine but to a point. It was near the end of the work day when I finally got to Denis' gallery. I had bought tickets to see the Cleveland Orchestra that evening. We saw the Messiah. Linnea Nereim, who plays bass clarinet for the orchestra, met us after the concert at Sergios, a restaurant near the concert hall. Denis and Linnea had not met before and hit it off immediately. Denis is an orchestra subscriber and could remember and discuss concerts from years before. I could tell that Linnea was impressed as was I. I took things in. I can be a good listener. Classical music is a subject that I admit to not knowing a lot about, but I was fascinated by their conversation. I thought about asking them if they ever listened to Duke Ellington, but decided against it.

Sunday morning I cooked breakfast for the two of us and departed for Wisconsin in pouring rain, the temperatures flirting with freezing. The rain had subsided when I reached Indiana. The drive went smoothly. The Midwestern blizzard had come and gone, but the snow that needed to be shoveled waited for me. It was good to be back.